Bank of America Corp.’s new CEO Brian Moynihan said Monday his company is continuing to recover from the financial crisis but will remain cautious even as it expects to grow in 2010. “Recovering from an (economic downturn) cycle, you have to be mindful of what got you here,” said Moynihan during an interview with The Associated Press on his first official working day in his new job. “That’s where you have to be careful that you don’t grow too fast and take on excessive risk, which is a lesson that we and everyone else learned.” Speaking later in a speech at an annual economic forecast forum in Raleigh, N.C., Moynihan added: “We as an industry cannot avoid the simple fact that we caused a lot of damage, and we have to help make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Moynihan also said in the speech that he expects unemployment to stay “stubbornly high.” The forum he was speaking at was sponsored by the North Carolina Bankers Association and the state’s Chamber of Commerce.

C opper slipped on Tuesday as a threat to supplies from Chile ebbed, but analysts say strong manufacturing data from the United States and China, the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals, will buoy prices. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,485 (U.S.) a tonne in official rings from $7,500 a tonne at the close on Monday when the metal used extensively in power and construction touched $7,536, the highest since August 2008. Chilean mining giant Codelco on Monday made an improved wage offer to workers at its large Chuquicamata complex, which could defuse a day-old strike

G reece says ambitious targets to reduce its massive budget deficit will be speeded up to conform with European Union spending rules in three years, instead of four. The news, announced Tuesday by the finance ministry, comes on the eve of a visit by EU finance officials for a detailed review of Greece’s fiscal plans.

N estl� ruled itself out of a bid war over Cadbury CBY-N and Kraft KFT-N sweetened its $16.4-billion offer with a bigger cash portion, raising expectations the U.S. food group will win its prize. Kraft’s revised �10.2-billion ($16.4-billion) proposal adds 60 pence of cash per share to tempt shareholders in the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Trident gum, but reduces the share portion of the hostile offer accordingly

J apan’s elderly finance minister offered to resign due to health reasons, a report said Tuesday. Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, 77, told Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama he would like to step down, Kyodo News agency said, citing no sources. A spokesman for the finance ministry declined to confirm the report

G oogle Inc. GOOG-Q is expected Tuesday to unveil its vision for how a mobile phone should be made and sold, likely raising the stakes in the Internet search leader’s bid to gain more control over how people surf the Web while they’re on the go.

I celand’s president refused on Tuesday to sign into law a bill to repay more than $5-billion lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands, forcing the issue to a referendum and stirring fresh turmoil in the crisis-hit country. President Olafur Grimsson’s rejection of the unpopular bill put aid from international lenders and his country’s aspirations to join the European Union in serious jeopardy, analysts said. A Finnish official said the decision was likely to delay a loan of €1.8-billion from Nordic countries.